doj/hhs medicare fraud strike forces are operating in nine locations nationwide -- miami, los angeles, detroit, houston, a brooklyn, baton rouge, tampa, chicago, and dallas. since the first strike force in 2007, the teams have charged 1500 defendants for falsely building -- billing medicare for $4.8 billion. those convicted received an average prison sentence of four years. in addition to disrupting health care fraud schemes and advancing prosecutions, we are working to return precious funds to the public coffers. since 2009, we have recovered $10.6 billion. over the same period, for every dollar spent on combating fraud, we have returned more than $7 to the united states treasury, the medicare trust fund, and others. however, as today's announcement proves, we are not yet satisfied. in the fight against fraud, we will never become complacent. we are taking the fight to a new level by expanding engagement with, state, local and tribal partners and streamlining federal investigations and prosecutions and by leveraging resources and expertise. in each of our strike force locations, we a
